John Gill Commentary Daniel 4:16

"let his heart be changed from man`s, and let a beast`s heart be given unto him; and let seven times pass over him." — Daniel 4:16 (ASV)

Let his heart be changed from man's
Not as to the substance, but as to the quality: and let a beast's heart be given unto him ;
from a human heart, let it be changed into a brutal one; let him be deprived of the use of reason, and have no more exercise of it than a brute has; let him be wholly governed by the animal senses, and behave and act as a beast does; be as senseless, stupid, and savage, as that:

And such a heart Nebuchadnezzar has; not that his rational soul departed from him, then he must have died; but the powers of it were sadly vitiated and depraved; his understanding, imagining himself to be a beast, not a man; his judgment, in not distinguishing the actions of a beast from those of a man; his memory of things past utterly failed; he forgot what he had been, and was; his will, inclination, and fancy, were towards brutal things, and ran upon deserts, fields, and grass; and he shunned the society of men:

And let seven times pass over him :
while in this condition; let him remain so long in it; not seven months, as Abarbinel, and others; nor seven half years, or three years and a half, as some in Theodoret; dividing the year into two parts, summer and winter; and suppose, that seven of these seasons passed over him before he recovered; but seven years are meant, as Jarchi, Saadiah, and Jacchiades, as the phrase is used in (Daniel 7:25) (12:7) , so many years the temple of Solomon was building, which Nebuchadnezzar has destroyed, and so long this madness must remain upon him:

No notice is taken of this affair by Heathen writers, only Abydenus ^F14 says, that being under a divine afflatus, he foretold the destruction of the Babylonian empire by a Persian mule (meaning Cyrus), and by a Mede, and immediately, (hfanisto) , he disappeared; which some have understood of this time of his madness, which quickly followed upon this dream.

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FOOTNOTES:

• F14: Apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 41. p. 457.